Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Health Insurance for All, Only if Everyone Pays?

Re “Mandates and Mudslinging” (column, Nov. 30):

Paul Krugman dismisses Senator Barack Obama’s points about health insurance mandates as “echoing right-wing talking points” on health care. Really?

It was two pragmatic Republican governors, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, who proposed mandates as cornerstones of their respective health reform plans.

In California, resistance to that approach has come primarily from unions and Democrats. Although I have favored the mandate component of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s plan, Mr. Obama raises valid points about the practicality of immediate mandates as the path to universality.

In California, there are real questions about whether the insurance that people would be required to buy and able to afford, even with subsidies, would be worth having. Massachusetts has already had to grant waivers to many.

In addressing this issue, carrots may prove more effective than heavy-handed sticks.

John Walkmeyer
San Ramon, Calif., Nov. 30, 2007

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